


What Brothers Do

by HesTheKingOfSomewhere



Series: The Larkin Family Dramas [2]
Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Brotherhood, Homophobia, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Protective Jack, Protective Older Brothers, race has a bf that may or may not be albert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-08-06 07:53:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16384199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HesTheKingOfSomewhere/pseuds/HesTheKingOfSomewhere
Summary: The Larkin kids were by no means perfect. They weren't exactly famous for getting along, but Jack could always be counted on to be an older brother.





	What Brothers Do

**Author's Note:**

> Someone requested a protective jack fic in the comments of the first one in this series so here you are!

The Larkin kids were by no means perfect. Both Race and Smalls had what people might call “abrasive personalities”, meanwhile Jack was as flighty and non-confrontational as they came. Fights in the Larkin household were near daily, and the Larkin’s certainly knew how to get themselves in trouble. In their books, the day wasn’t over until Smalls and Race got into a fight. Despite this, the three siblings were actually very close, which was what actually caused most altercations. It just happened to be that when you spend too much time with another person you can get into an argument over just about anything. The outlier relationship among the siblings was Jack and Smalls, who had (almost) never gotten into a fight, their bond was unbreakable and made Jack seem like the epitome of a big brother. The whole family awaited the day Smalls brought home an SO and Jack gave them the biggest dressing down of their short life. As for Race, Jack kept out of his love life and kept to a general “good luck, buddy” policy. It was to the point where Jack wasn’t even sure which of their friends Race was dating. To be fair, it was very hard to tell; Race was very touchy with his close friends and frankly, it was too late in the game for Jack to ask. 

The good thing about having a mutual friend group with your brother is that your over-protective mother lets you go pretty much anywhere as long as it’s both of you going. Which is why Jack and Race were still at David’s house at 2 am while the rest of his family was out of town. It was a boy’s night, they were all a bit buzzed, having drunk the beer that Finch and Romeo brought. Their parties were never actually all that exciting. Race usually ended up playing cards with Spot and Albert, this particular night he had roped Elmer into it as well. Poor kid was getting decimated. The rest of the boys were curled up with their respective partners watching a scary movie, something about killer clowns, Jack wasn’t sure, he was distracted by his boyfriend. David’s hair was getting a bit long and Jack couldn’t stop running his fingers through it, and while David was pretending to be paying attention to the movie, the hands running through his hair were unbelievably distracting. Jack and David rarely ever got alone time, and as teenagers that was all they wanted. The couple didn’t even notice as their friends slowly trickled home until the only others left were Race and Albert.

“Should we head home?” Race interrupted, staring at Jack expectantly. Jack hesitated, acknowledging that yeah, Race wanted to go home, and yeah it was 3 am and Race probably shouldn’t be walking home alone, but Jack wanted nothing more than to stay with David. His hesitation prompted his boyfriend to speak up.

“Um, why doesn’t Albert walk with Race?” David suggested, “You guys live pretty close, right?”

Race and Albert looked at each other and gave each other mischevious grins. What those grins meant, Jack wasn’t sure. They could be dating and excited to “walk” home together, they could be going to go get into some trouble, or they could be smiling because of what David and Jack were inevitably going to do once they left. Jack hoped it was the first one.

“Alright, have fun you two” Race teased. Albert latched on to it, taking on an ill-suited parental role.

“Use protection.” He advised, wagging his finger.

“Get out of my house.”

 

~~~

 

Jack didn’t go home until noon the next day, and after a night with David, he was reluctant to leave even then. But Medda called; well, she didn’t actually call, she sent a text, but the point stood. Jack was essentially walking on sunshine the whole way home. That changed when he saw Race.

Race had a black eye, a split lip, and an array of cuts and bruises. He was lying on the couch when Jack arrived, watching TV with an ice pack on his wrist. Race’s eyes flicked to his brother momentarily and then back to the tv.

“Jesus Christ, Racer, what happened to you?” Jack asked, dropping his bag at the door. The thud made Race wince.

“Nothin’,” Race shrugged. His brother rolled his eyes, he wasn’t normally concerned about Race, for the most part, the kid could take care of himself. Race brushing it off meant that there was something more to the story, and Jack couldn’t just leave that alone.

“Would Albert say the same thing?”

“Yes.”

“Alright, so I’ll take that as Albert doesn’t know you look like shit. Do you want me to tell him an’ Spot that you came home looking like the Hulk used you as a human punching bag, or are you going to tell me what happened?” Jack threatened. Race just glared at him through his one good eye, considering his options.

“It really don’t matter.” 

“Then tell me.” Jack took a seat on the couch, pushing aside Race’s feet.

“Fine.” Race paused, trying to find words. “Oscar and Morris saw me with Al and decided it would be a great idea to come after me once I was alone. See? No big deal. Just a little scuffle and it was over, I’m fine.”

Jack felt a lump form in his throat; he wasn’t sure what was worse, that Race had gotten beaten up for having a boyfriend or that Race thought it was “fine” and “no big deal”. The lump in his throat sank to his stomach and slowly turned to a burning rage, what assholes were still attacking people for being gay in the year 2018? And the  _ audacity _ to attack a 16-year-old kid! There was nothing that could ever compare to the anger he felt for someone- no  _ two adults _ ganging up on his  _ brother _ for liking boys. He wouldn’t have it. Jack stood up and started walking towards the door. He had a plan.

“Where are you going?” Race asked, shocked by Jack’s sudden change in demeanor.

 

“I have some business to take care of.”

 

~~~

 

Jack didn’t get back until nearly two hours later, bearing similar injuries to Race’s but in a remarkably better mood. He wasn’t one to resort to physical violence, but Jack felt that it was sometimes necessary; he believed in an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Unfortunately, he returned just in time to face his mother and family dinner. Jack walked into the kitchen to find everyone staring at him, his siblings with awe and amusement and Medda with pure unadulterated rage. Without saying a word she stood up and swept him out of the room, pulling him by the arm into the living room.

“What did you do?” She seethed, not letting go of his arm.

“I got in a fight,” Jack shrugged. Medda sighed and rubbed her face.

“I thought you were better than that, Jack. You are above this. I hope you know how disappointed I am in you. I’d maybe expect fighting from Race, Lord knows he’s got a temper, but never from you! I thought I raised you better than that, Jack Kelly-Larkin. You are supposed to be setting an example for him and Smalls! That means doing your chores and getting good grades, not getting into fisticuffs with punks in back alleys.” Medda looked tired, and Jack felt a sudden wave of sympathy for her. “To be fair, you’ll get the same punishment as Race, but know that I am doubly disappointed in you, Jack.”

If Race had gotten a punishment for the incident, it meant that Medda certainly didn’t know the truth of what had happened, so Jack said nothing in his own defense. Truthfully, he felt she had a point. Jack always did his best to be dependable for her, where his younger siblings could be troublemakers. She had done such a great job raising the three of them all on her own, Jack couldn’t help to feel a twinge of guilt for what he’d done, but he knew in his heart that what he had done was right. Jack accepted the week-long grounding silently and somberly, before following his mother back into the kitchen, where the food was getting cold.

The meal passed in uncomfortable silence, the elephant in the room remained undiscussed until it came time for Race and Jack to clear the table and do the dishes. The departure of the female half of the family allowed Jack to finally speak freely.

“You didn’t tell Mom?”

“Wasn’t her business, did you?”

“Wasn’t  _ my  _ business.”

“And yet you went looking for the bastards. I’ve gotten in fights before, Jack, you never follow up on them.” Race all but threw a handful of utensils in the sink.

“It ain’t a fight when they’re three years older and twice the size” Jack pointed out. He could see Race’s shoulder’s slump, and his brother instincts kicked in. “Look, it isn’t always going to be easy out there. Lord knows I got in tons of shit as a kid for liking boys. Hell, I’m still nervous holding Davey’s hand when we’re walking down the street. But any time I got beat up at school, I knew that I could always count on having family that would patch up my scrapes and bruises and loves me for who I am. No matter how hard and cruel the world can be, you’ll always have allies; your friends and family, people who care about you. The good in this world will always outweigh the bad. That’s what matters.”

There was a long pause of Race processing what Jack had said.

“I still don’t need you fighting my fights” He sounded choked up. Jack pulled Race into a hug.

“It’s what brothers do.”


End file.
